Don't You Love Me Anymore?
by lestrange101
Summary: Draco and Hermione have been dating for three years. Draco thinks it's high-time they move in together but Hermione is reluctant and a bit of a commitment-phobic and Draco wonders why…
1. Chapter 1

**Don't you love me anymore?**

**CHAPTER ONE  
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><p>"Well, what about Malfoy Manor?" Draco asked, shrugging and running a hand through his silky blonde hair. He was paying close attention to her face and he wasn't surprised to see flickers of emotion cross it.<p>

"Are you being serious right now? Are you suggesting we move into that _horrid _place, where your crazy aunt tortured me? Gosh, no! I don't want to relive my nightmares every day!" Hermione retorted, throwing him a dark look and proceeding to fold her arms across her chest.

She was still having nightmares about Bellatrix? Yet, she had confided to him that she no longer had them just a little over a year ago…

"It's really not that horrid, I assure you. Besides, you told me that you don't have that particular nightmare anymore…"

"Well, I _lied_."

"Why?"

"I don't know, I didn't want you to worry," she sighed, looking exhausted. She uncrossed her arms and leaned against the kitchen table, and began to massage her temples with her right hand. Perhaps, he had picked a bad time to bring up this topic of conversation for she was seldom in a good mood after work. Being a Healer in the emergency department at St. Mungo's was no easy walk in the park. Of course, she didn't have to work. He could very well support the both of them, but no, she would hate him if he even suggested the idea. Sometimes, he despised her for being so stubborn. They could be sipping Piña coladas on a secluded Caribbean beach right now…

"Why are you bringing it up now?" he asked.

Hermione gave him a startled look and appeared to have lost track of the conversation. He wouldn't bet on it though, she always seemed to be on top of things.

"I'm not, you are! I don't want to move into the _wretched_ manor, _okay_? You can go live there yourself!"

"Aren't I already doing that?" Draco asked, letting out a frustrated sigh. It wasn't supposed to be this hard. He decided he needed to approach it a different way. "Listen Hermione, if you don't want to…"

"Shut up! Don't you start on me!"

"What?"

"I know exactly what you're trying to do, Draco Malfoy! Trying to guilt-trip me into moving in with you at the sodding Manor! I'll have you know that there's no way in hell I'm going to agree, so_ kindly_ shut up," Hermione shouted. She had moved away now and was walking towards the front of her apartment.

"Hermione…"

"Draco…", she replied mockingly, raising an eyebrow.

"Look, you agree that we practically live together already, right? I mean, I'm here _almost_ everyday and night."

"Yes, go ahead and move in to my apartment. Half your wardrobe's here anyway," Hermione replied, smiling as she bent over to pick up one of his discarded socks and promptly throw it at him.

"Here? This apartment is_ revolting_, Hermione, and you know it." She narrowed her eyes. "Well, no one asked your opinion, _thanks_, and if you hate it so much, the door's right there," she retorted, gesturing towards the entranceway. He wasn't exaggerating though, her apartment was very revolting. It was obvious the only reason Hermione put up with it was because it was a mere block away from the entrance to St. Mungo's.

"You could floo to work, you know," he said, rolling his eyes. "Maybe I enjoy the walk!" she said, half-halfheartedly, glancing out the window at the torrential downpour.

"_Shut up_, you don't have to live at the Manor, you know very well that I have a perfectly great apartment in London." It had been his first suggestion, as he liked his apartment more than the Manor, but she had denied his offer, saying that "she didn't like apartments."

"I don't know, Draco. I just feel that we are moving too fast."

Finally they had got down to the heart of the problem. Her insecurities with making their relationship more committed.

They had been dating for three years, and had kept it secret for two of those years. It was especially hard for Hermione to confess her relationship with the notorious Draco Malfoy to her friends, who had been shocked, to say the least. It hadn't been that difficult for Draco. He loved Hermione, and didn't give a damn what anyone thought of their relationship.

"Okay," he sighed. He supposed he could give her time. He was in no rush. But lately, it felt completely stupid for them to be living in two different residences when he knew they wanted to be together always. He felt depressed when he left the office every night and had to come home to his empty apartment. And he hated, absolutely hated the nights she wouldn't stay. He had resorted to coming to her apartment instead in the last few months.

"Can we talk about it later?" Hermione asked and Draco nodded in reply.

He'll let her win _this_ time. It wasn't fair though that he was admitting easy defeat. She had said that she wanted to move in with him too, but when pressed about the issue, she just didn't seem that into it. He knew she loved him. And he also knew that his love for her was greater than her love for him. However, now he was beginning to wonder exactly how _big_ the gap was. And whether their relationship was going anywhere…

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><p>TO BE CONTINUED…<p>

**PLEASE REVIEW XD~lestrange101**


	2. Chapter 2

**Don't you love me anymore?**

**CHAPTER TWO**

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><p>"Do you think you'll be fine getting all the potions ready by yourself or would you require assistance?"<p>

"No, sir. I'll be fine," Hermione said, and she quickly exited the office.

She couldn't stand speaking to her superior who was a true asshole despite his impressive medical credentials. She hated the perverse looks he gave her and the way he always talked to her condescendingly. She wasn't an idiot! In fact, the media had dubbed her _"The Brightest Witch of the Age"_ during her years at Hogwarts. It infuriated her to no end that Mr. Torham treated her so disrespectfully, but it was one of the only flaws to her job. She loved working at St. Mungo's and had even agreed to work overtime today, and make new potions for the hospital. She had to work isolated on the restricted floor though, because there were no empty chambers anywhere else. Hermione had only been to the restricted floor twice before, and all she knew was that there was some sort of curse down there and it wasn't safe for patients to be down there. She had been assured though that it was safe for healers and healthy people to go down there. It had turned into a storage area and she remembered it being kind of eerie. Hermione was beginning to regret not asking for assistance…

**Two Hours Later…**

Hermione had almost completed all the potions she had been instructed to make. It was kind of like potions class all over again with Mr. Torham being Severus Snape. She had to admit though that she missed potions with Snape…

"Hi, Hermione."

Startled, Hermione glanced up at the intruder. She had thought she was the only person on the floor. "Gosh Ron! You nearly gave me a heart attack, what are you doing on this floor? This is off-limits! And you are neither staff nor authorized personnel!" she shouted, incredibly angry that Ron had somehow bypassed the wards of the restricted hospital floor.

Ron simply shrugged. "Wasn't too difficult, he said. "In fact, I dare say it was_ quite_ easy," he added, with a smirk. Ron, if possible had gotten even taller since their days at Hogwarts and his lanky body had filled out due to the rigorous Auror training he had to endure a few years ago. Even though he was leaning against a wall, he still towered over her and this was just a _tad _intimidating. Ron seemed to sense her discomfort and he smirked again.

"Ron, one of these days you're going to regret crossing me!" Hermione retorted, hardly amused at his obvious cockiness.

"I doubt it," Ron said happily. "I _adore_ you when you're angry," he added with a wink.

Ron was at his worst again. He was so used to the attention and praise that he got from female admirers from being a famous auror and Harry Potter's best friend and all, that sometimes he forgot that she wasn't some mindless twat but his best friend, and this was _not_ appropriate.

Actually, she was beginning to wonder if he did all this flattering and flirting (that he had been doing a lot of lately) on purpose and not merely stupidity.

"Ugh, what do you want," she replied, finally.

"Oh, I'm _glad_ you remembered that I'm still here."

Hermione sighed and moved towards the sink. They were in a tiny chamber near the fireplace that flooed them back to the main floors. It contained two nice long worktables and a sink. It was a room perfect for making potions. But _not_ for having conversation.

"Look Ron, as you can _see_, I'm _really_ busy so _please_ just spit it out!" she retorted, annoyed at his sarcasm.

"Natalie and I broke up," Ron said. Hermione looked away from washing her hands and to his face, to see if he was upset. He wasn't. He was examining his fingers, in fact.

Hermione was Ron's only female friend and he liked telling her about relationship troubles and asking for her advice. In the past, she had been happy to help when he had had real genuine relationships but now he had turned into a kind of person who just had one-week stands. In other words, a total man-whore.

"Well you seem very heartbroken about it Ron," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, thought she was different, you know, she seemed smart," Ron replied. He was looking at her now. "Are you _even_ listening Hermione?"

"Yeah, yeah, what is it Ron?"

"Nothing, was just checking to see if you were listening," Ron replied. She glanced up at him again. He was looking at the potions she had made in distaste.

"So you came _all_ the way to my work and broke into the restricted floor just to tell me that your latest _slut_ broke up with you?" Hermione asked. She couldn't fathom why he had bothered to go through all the trouble.

"Did you say _slut_?" Ron asked, laughing.

"What's so funny about that? It's true, and you know it," Hermione mumbled, annoyed at his arrogant laughter.

"Yeah, but you _never_…"

"Save it, Ron, and do something productive. Can you pass me that cauldron on your right?" she demanded. She still had one potion to complete and Ron was distracting her. Malfoy had got a reservation to a fancy muggle restauraunt downtown and she didn't want to be late.

"Sure, sure, what's the rush," Ron asked, handing her the cauldron. He was watching her work in an obvious frenzy now that she had remembered the reservation.

"Got a hot date," Hermione replied, smiling for the first time since Ron had intruded.

"Really? With _who_?" Ron asked, raising his eyebrows. He was sitting on a stool next to her now watching her prepare the ingredients for the last potion.

"Who do you think, _dimwit._ Draco, of course," Hermione said, thoroughly exasperated. Ron could not possibly have forgotten that she had been dating Malfoy for the last three years, of course for he had been against it from the start. Actually, Hermione remembered an incident when he had even resorted to begging her not to date Malfoy because he was devil's spawn, or something stupid like that. Harry, on the other hand had been perfectly okay with it. A year later, she could even say that Harry was supportive.

"You're _cursed_ or completely bonkers, that's the only explanation for it. I can't believe that you're still with that prat, Hermione. Do you know what uproar he caused at the ministry yesterday? Hear about that? Yeah, I doubt your boyfriend told you about that," Ron said, nastily.

Hermione wondered what trivial thing Ron was talking about now.

"No he didn't. Why don't _you_ tell me about it?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Yeah I'll tell you, alright. Someone has got to. That's actually the real reason I came down here today. Harry was too scared, a matter of fact, the _idiot_," Ron said laughing.

"What?" Hermione asked, bewildered. She stopped chopping the tadpoles to look at Ron.

"Malfoy's funding a new initiative: House elf training," Ron said, grinning from ear to ear.

"What? Are you kidding me? What rubbish!" Hermione said laughing. Ron was just trying to annoy her, is all, if the huge grin on his face was any indication plus she knew Draco would never do something that stupid. Ron's grin faded. "I'm not kidding. I overheard him talking to Minister Shacklebolt, they are making this facility for house-elves complete with…"

"Oh my gosh!" Hermione squealed, dropping the knife she was holding. Her heart swelled. Draco was putting her idea to action! She hadn't even thought he had been listening when she had told him the details. She had told him that it would be amazing if there was a house-elf rehabilitation center for all the poor elves that her organization S.P.E.W. was rescuing from abusive homes. She had written a letter to the Minister about it a year ago, but had not gotten any reply. And she had been so busy with work that she had forgotten all about it…_until_ now.

Maybe the minister would allow S.P.E.W. to head the project? Just the thought of it made her want to sing. Finally, some progress in her fight for house-elves everywhere!

"And they were using all these code names like H.E.R. which _obviously_ stands for…" Ron was bantering, having not noticed her outburst.

"House-Elf Rehabilitation!" Hermione squealed, her suspicions confirmed. Draco was indeed going to fund a rehabilitation center!

"What?" Ron asked, confused. He seemed to have come out of his trance.

Hermione squealed again and threw her arms around Ron and gave him a hug. "This is great news! I'm so excited! This is great news for me, S.P.E.W. and house-elves everywhere!" she shouted in glee.

Ron looked at her in confusion and seemed to be processing the last minute slowly in his head.

"Oh," he said.

"Oh, be more enthusiastic would you! Stop always trying to discredit Draco! It _always_ backfires on you," Hermione said, laughing.

"Yeah, he can do no wrong," Ron grumbled, slumping in his seat.

Hermione grinned. She couldn't wait until she got off work so she could shower Draco with kisses he so rightfully deserved.

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><p>TO BE CONTINUED…<p>

**PLEASE REVIEW XD~lestrange101**


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